Diplomats and experts to examine gender in foreign policy at GU-Q’s Hiwaraat conference

Doha, Qatar: Gender in Foreign Policy, Georgetown University in Qatar (GU Q) s Hiwaraat conference on April 18 on campus, is timely and topical. The...

Doha, Qatar: ‘Gender in Foreign Policy,’ Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q)’s Hiwaraat conference on April 18 on campus, is timely and topical. The conference will consider how to improve foreign policy and practice by gender-informed approaches across a multiplicity of contexts including in the use of AI, and examine the specifics of gender in conflict situations with a focus on Afghanistan, Gaza, and Ukraine.

The groundbreaking conference will convene seasoned diplomats and distinguished foreign policy leaders, including public officials both from the Global North and South, academics, policy experts, and students. The conference will open with remarks by Ambassador Androulla Kaminara, GU-Q Distinguished-Diplomat-in-Residence, and by Dr. Safwan Masri, dean of GU-Q. H E Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations (UN) in New York, will deliver a message to the conference. 

Four thematic sessions will highlight mutually related topics at the intersection of gender and diplomacy. In the first session, moderated by Ambassador Kaminara, H E Dalia Grybauskaitė, former President of Lithuania, and H E Ghulam Hoosein Asmal, Ambassador of South Africa to Qatar, will address why gender still matters in foreign policy.

The second session, moderated by GU-Q Professor Mehran Kamrava, will focus on diplomatic practice, featuring distinguished Georgetown University professor and former Ambassador of the US to the Netherlands, Dr. Cynthia Schneider, Wendy Gilmour, Assistant Secretary General at NATO and former High Commissioner to Pakistan, and H E Dr. Cristian Tudor, European Union (EU) Resident Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to the State of Qatar.

The role and risks of AI in foreign policy and diplomacy will be discussed in the third session, informed by the expertise of Dr. Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health; Dr. Michail Bletsas, Director of Harvard University Media Labs; Dr. Jamie Olsen, professor of philosophy and Manager of Instructional Design and Educational Continuity at GU-Q; and Col. Simon Maina, Director of Cybersecurity, AI, and Emerging Technologies in the office of the National Security Advisor to the President of Kenya.